Harry Potter and the Orb of Life
by drksirius
Summary: AU. Harry's summer after fifth year is the hardest yet, but new challenges await when Voldemort's backup plan changes Harry's life again. Pairings undecided as of yet. No slash.


_**Harry Potter and the Orb of Life**_

_**By Dirk Sirius**_

_**Prologue: Darkness Comes Calling**_

**Night of ** **July 31ST 1980**

This was the third night in a row London was caught under a torrential downpour; the heavy rains forced all the people indoors, leaving the streets abandoned. The sound of rain hitting the pavement was the only sound, and then a loud bang announced the arrival of a bus. Not an ordinary bus, it had three levels and bright purple. This bus was known to the magical community as the Knight Bus. It is the primary means of transportation for a stranded witch or wizard. Like tonight, the lightning made apparition tricky and the floo network was down because of threats by Death Eaters.

As the bus came to a stop, the lights came on inside of the bus, which illuminated the interior. There were two rows of beds in each level and all were empty except for one bed. The conductor, an old weathered man walked up to the sleeping wizard and prodded him awake. Then the conductor announced to the sleepy man,

"St. Mungo's"

This seemed to wake the man up because the covers were thrown off and he stood up rather quickly. He sounded startled as he quickly said,

"No need to yell!"

"These aren't the times to be dawdling out in the open like this, Mr. ….?" Stated the suspicious conductor, who was wondering why a man would be out alone on a night like this.

"Pettigrew, Peter Pettigrew." He replied as he put his boots on.

The conductor grabbed and escorted or, depending on your perspective, dragged Peter out to the door.

"Hey I am not dressed yet!" yelled Peter as he tried to throw his battered black rain proof cloak on around his shoulders.

A moment after shoving Peter out into the thunderstorm the conductor yelled to the driver, "Let's Go!"

The bus gave a loud cough before a loud bang sounded its departure. The tires of the bus thoroughly soaked Peter standing along the curb. Peter stood there motionless for several seconds before,

"#$& Figures!" cursed Peter.

Shaking his head and shivering all over, Peter turned towards the entrance to St. Mungo's and thought about the reason he had to be outside on a god awful night like thismehey can cast a drying charm onsng,

ned towards the entrance to St..

It was an hour ago and I was trying to finish a bottle of fire whiskey when he heard Sirius' voice from the fireplace.

"Peter, Peter!"

Jumping up and walking to the fireplace he saw Sirius' head floating in the flames of his fireplace, he answered, "What is it?

Sirius' voice sounded anxious and when he answered he left out all the jokes and teasing barbs which he almost always included in their conversations, "Lily's in labor right this minute, James and Lily already left by one of Dumbledore's portkeys. Meet me over at St. Mungo's."

I popped a couple mints in my mouth to hide the alcohol on my breath and grabbed a pinch of floo powder and as he stepped into the fireplace.

I yelled, "St. Mungo's" as I threw the floo powder at the fireplace.

But nothing happened, and then a monotone voice came out of the fireplace.

"The floo network has been shut down due to threats by suspected Death Eaters against Ministry facilities, Good Day."

Sighing I grabbed my waterproof cloak and walked out of my apartment down to the parking. I looked up to the sky and saw the lightning brightening the sky. I knew I was not talented enough at apparition to attempt it with this much electricity in the air. I raised my wand and signaled for the knight bus. In a moment it appeared in front of me, I paid my fair and took a bed for the trip.

An incredible bad shiver knocked me out of my thoughts and brought me back to reality.

"G-Good thing my friends are already at the hospital with Lily, they can cast a drying charm on me. I am no good with the drying charms."

"Who are you kidding, you are no good with any kind of magic," sneered a voice from a shadowed alcove next to the entrance of St. Mungo's.

"Who…?"

Before Peter could respond, two beams of red light hit him in the chest at the same time and he fell to the ground in a heap.

Two hooded masked-men stepped out of the dark alcoves to either side of the entrance. The one man was quite large and easily threw the unconscious man over his shoulder. The smaller man walked behind and lifted the hood off the unconscious man to reveal a chubby face with a pointed nose and large front teeth.

"It's Pettigrew alright, I would know that face anywhere." A cool drawling voice behind a white skull mask said to his partner.

"Let's go before anyone else comes by or before our master grows impatient."

The two men grabbed onto an old boot and placed Pettigrew's limp hand onto the boot, and the smaller man said activate and with a pop they were gone from the street

When Peter Pettigrew awoke he had a splitting headache and his chest felt as if a hippogriff had ran over him. He lay motionless for a minute to clear the cobwebs from his head. He slowly lifted himself off the cold granite floor and looked around the torch-lit room. There was a shadow obscuring the view of most of the room. There were no windows. The place felt like a damp, enclosed basement.

Hesitantly he asked the darkness," H-hello…is anyone here?"

There was silence for a few moments until a cold laugh rang out of the darkness. The torches flared bringing light to every corner of the room. What sat on a stone throne at the end of the room sent shivers down Pettigrew's back, and he felt a warm feeling run down his leg. There sat the Dark Lord himself, black hair, slit for a nose and red tinted brown eyes. Lord Voldemort spotted the puddle of urine growing where Peter sat on the ground.

Voldemort smirked as he said, "I love how I have that effect on people. It sends such a warm feeling through me."

Peter was unable to formulate a response at first, but as he saw his life flash before his eyes, he realized that You-Know-Who was going to kill him and there was nothing he could do about it.

"I had you brought here to give me some information about Dumbledore's little group that I believe you to be a part of….

"I will tell you anything you want!" "Just don't kill me. I can help you. I will provide you with any information you want. Just grant me my life and two requests..." spilled out of Pettigrew's mouth as if he was afraid he wouldn't be allowed to finish.

Voldemort sat on the throne, for the first time in a long time he was shocked. He thought one of the vaunted marauders would take hours to break and probably die before any useful information came forward. Maybe they were not as united as he first thought?

"Why would you betray your friends?" Voldemort asked after a minute of thought.

Without hesitation the frustrations of Pettigrew's life played out of his mouth. What he saw as slights and a lack of respect from his friends. But the final straw was the upcoming birth of James and Lily's baby. They overlooked him as a grandparent and left him out of their preparations for the upcoming birth. Filthy Bastards! He rambled on for awhile about meaningless things until….

"Enough of this babbling, Crucio!" yelled Voldemort.

Pettigrew writhed on the ground as Voldemort held the curse for a minute. When he felt the screaming man had had enough he let the curse up and stated,

"You will tell me your reasons now and no more stalling."

Panting Peter looked at Voldemort in the eye and said in a hate filled and loathing voice,

"I hate them all." Peter spat, gone was the timid man who could never look a person in the eye. But this night he looked into Voldemort's blood red eyes without hesitation and yelled, "I am tired of being second rate, barely above noticed, and I want my do!" Peter stood there shaking, all the years of inadvertent neglect and passive abuse came out in that moment. His friends overlooked him and passed him by for years. The anger and frustration Peter felt at there jabs and taunts built up over the years. "Also, it is their arrogance. The way they treat me like I'm not even there. They always tell me everything last. I am never treated as an equal and they make everyone see me as a fool. They have the most beautiful women fawning over them." James got the greatest prize of them all, Lily! "James spends years making her life miserable while I was a friend to her when no one would pay attention to her. But as she grew up she became a beautiful woman and when people began to take notice, I fell by the wayside and she no longer needed me." Noticing that Voldemort was starting to grow impatient he finished with,

"I want respect, respect for my abilities, and I want Lily Potter after we triumph."

"A mudblood, what possible use could trash like her be to you?"

"When we are victorious, who will do the menial labor and other sorts of tasks not suited for the greatness of the Purebloods?"

"Slaves yes, I had plans along those lines … Well if you succeed as my spy I will give you Lily Potter and as my spy you will have a place in my Inner Circle, now do you agree to those terms?"

Without hesitation Peter Pettigrew kneeled before the Dark Lord and extended his bare left arm and Voldemort pressed the tip of his wand and muttered a spell that only Pettigrew could hear. A terrible pain coursed up his arm causing him to scream. Then the pain ceased and he felt like an ice cube was being pressed against his skin. He looked at his forearm to see a black tattoo of a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth.

"Now take this portkey and see the Potters new baby before they grow suspicious of your absence, that tattoo will burn when I summon you to give you further instructions and you will apparate to me immediately. "Understand?"

"Yes Master."

About thirty minutes later:

After taking a small portkey made by Voldemort himself, a small shining crystal globe, Peter reappeared in exactly the same spot where he was kidnapped. He had let his emotions get the better of him, the frustration and anger had built up for years and it got the better of him when he was confronted by Voldemort. With a heavy heart and a troubled mind he entered through the front door of St. Mungo's. With no notice of his surroundings, he unconsciously walked toward Lily's room and probably by now a newborn baby had joined Lily and the rest of the Marauders.

The thought of his friends nearly unhinged, but he kept inside and his face remained impassive on the outside. But on the inside Peter was troubled as he continued through the hospital.

To himself he questioned, "What did I do?"

A voice inside his head answered him haughtily, "You did what you had to do."

"No I didn't, I was weak, and I gave in too easily. I should have defied He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"You would have been killed."

"My friends would have died for me."

"Sure"

"More likely kill you outright, when they find out you have the dark mark."

"Shut-up"

His thoughts were interrupted as he walked into the delivery room and saw a sight that was burned into his memory. Sirius was sitting a camera to take a picture of himself with James, Lily, and Remus and the bundle in Lily's arms. Sirius finished setting the timer on the camera and joined the rest of the friends on the bed and together they chorused "To Family!"

With the flash he was shaken out of his stupor and the voice in his head returned full force, "I told you they didn't care for you."

Hatred seethed through Peter, and he came to the conclusion the choice he made was right on. He put his normal clueless face and he entered the room. The occupants finally noticed his presence and welcomed him into the room.

Note: The next chapter will be longer and hopefully be ready in September. I will appreciate any reviews; they will be very useful to improving the story. Until next time, I will see you around, ciao.


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